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A review by booksbybindu
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
5.0
Review
It’s official - Laura Purcell is the queen of modern gothic historical fiction, there is nothing she can do wrong. ‘The Shape of Darkness’ is a riveting tale that has all the hallmarks of this genre - the dark and dirty bleakness of Victorian Britain, a supernatural storyline and characters that pop off the page. It’s prose is claustrophobic but divine, there are enough red herrings and twists to make sure the reader is captivated, and when you read the final page you just want to dive straight back into the world which Laura has created.
Agnes is a silhouette portrait maker as a means to help support herself, her mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric. However, in the age of Victorian photographer less people are wanting her services. Agnes still gets a few clients but suddenly her clients are being murdered and she has no idea why?! Agnes has heard of mediums and spiritualism and attends a seance where we find Pearl an albino 9 year old who acts as the medium.
It is the characters in this book that makes it shine, especially those of Agnes and Pearl. They both share the same innocence and naivety. I personally don’t believe in spiritualism, even when my mum did, to me there is always an explanation and so many of the practitioners of this time period were charlatans. But even so this story sucks you in and you want to believe that Pearl actually has the gift, especially with her blackouts and memory loss. You want to believe that she is special and has a gift and not just being exploited by her elder half-sister. The resolution to the story for both these characters made me gasp, I totally wasn’t expecting either of them in all honesty. I thought the story was going in another direction but then that’s what I love. When an author surprises you it’s truly a magical moment and there were many of those moments in this book.
Truly this book is great - just read it peeps.
It’s official - Laura Purcell is the queen of modern gothic historical fiction, there is nothing she can do wrong. ‘The Shape of Darkness’ is a riveting tale that has all the hallmarks of this genre - the dark and dirty bleakness of Victorian Britain, a supernatural storyline and characters that pop off the page. It’s prose is claustrophobic but divine, there are enough red herrings and twists to make sure the reader is captivated, and when you read the final page you just want to dive straight back into the world which Laura has created.
Agnes is a silhouette portrait maker as a means to help support herself, her mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric. However, in the age of Victorian photographer less people are wanting her services. Agnes still gets a few clients but suddenly her clients are being murdered and she has no idea why?! Agnes has heard of mediums and spiritualism and attends a seance where we find Pearl an albino 9 year old who acts as the medium.
It is the characters in this book that makes it shine, especially those of Agnes and Pearl. They both share the same innocence and naivety. I personally don’t believe in spiritualism, even when my mum did, to me there is always an explanation and so many of the practitioners of this time period were charlatans. But even so this story sucks you in and you want to believe that Pearl actually has the gift, especially with her blackouts and memory loss. You want to believe that she is special and has a gift and not just being exploited by her elder half-sister. The resolution to the story for both these characters made me gasp, I totally wasn’t expecting either of them in all honesty. I thought the story was going in another direction but then that’s what I love. When an author surprises you it’s truly a magical moment and there were many of those moments in this book.
Truly this book is great - just read it peeps.